Soybean Extract Holds Cholesterol Promise

April 19, 2000

A soybean extract with high levels of plant sterols shows promise for people who already eat a low-fat diet to reduce cholesterol. Preliminary research shows sterols can increase the cholesterol-lowering benefits of a healthy low-fat diet.

"The research is preliminary but offers new evidence that soybean and other plant extracts containing sterols can increase the cholesterol-lowering benefits of a healthy low-fat diet," said Agricultural Research Service Administrator Floyd P. Horn. "People who want to reduce their cholesterol through diet may see better results by including low-fat foods having added sterols as part of their low-fat diet."

The study’s lead researcher, chemist Joseph T. Judd of USDA’s Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, MD, presented the findings Tuesday at the Experimental Biology 2000 meeting in San Diego, CA.

Horn said cholesterol reductions nearly doubled in the study’s 53 men and women volunteers when their low-fat diet included two daily servings of four tablespoons total of salad dressing containing soybean sterols. The volunteers consumed the sterols 00 2.2 grams or about one-half teaspoon daily for three weeks of the six-week study period last year.

Plant sterols are ingredients in a number of fat-based foods on the market including salad dressings and margarines. Potential dietary benefits of plant sterols, including cholesterol reduction, have been studied for decades.

Judd said the Beltsville study was unique in examining plant sterols as an ingredient in low-fat foods and as part of a tightly controlled low-fat diet. Most studies have looked at sterol effects in higher fat foods.